Bathtub Confessionals
by You're out of your vulcan mind
Summary: When Eobard Thawne died Harrison Wells was freed and the catastrophic singularity never happened. How does Harrison Wells deal with being in control of himself again for the first time in 15 years and how does Team Flash deal with the real Harrison Wells? This fic was born from a friend's desire to see Scrubs's Dan in the bathtub scene with Dr. Wells. It kind of took off from there
1. Chapter 1

Eddie collapsed, slowly bleeding out from the hole in his chest. Eobard staggered away from Barry, no longer vibrating.

"What did you do?" Joe screamed, grabbing Eddie, trying to stem the flow of blood. "What did you do?"

"No such thing as a coincidence." Eddie whispered.

Eobard looked frozen. His features began to morph, his face stretching and his hair changing from it's dark brown to blond and back again. His entire body began to shake and he started screaming.

"What is happening?" Barry demanded

Cisco gasped, "Eddie is his ancestor. If Eddie dies he'll never be born. He's being erased from existence."

Iris was pleading with Eddie to stay with her, Joe watching his partner slip away in shock.

Barry and Cisco watched in horror as the man's body began stretching and splitting, until two men were standing before them, Harrison Wells and a tall blond man. Harrison collapsed while the blond man, the real Eobard turned to Barry with a slight smirk.

"I've controlled your life for so long Barry. How will you get along without me?"

Lights began racing up Eobard's arm, like cracks on paint and then his arms began disappearing, his entire body disintegrating in glowing particles. With a final scream, he was gone. Barry staggered upright, staring at the unmoving body of Harrison Wells, the real Harrison Wells?

"Barry!" Joe called out. "Barry, get him to a hospital."

Barry looked at Eddie,it was too late. He knew it was too late, and he knew Joe was well aware of it too, but with Iris screaming he couldn't not try. He scooped the other man up into his arms and zoomed off.

—

Three hours later Joe sat down next to Barry on a bench outside of the hospital.

"How is Iris?"

Joe shook his head. "Caitlin had to sedate her. I took her home, and Caitlin is staying with her right now."

"Joe I-"

Joe held up his hand and shook his head "Eddie died a hero today. He took control of his own fate and made his own decisions. I'm proud of him."

Barry nodded. "What about Harrison?"

"Dunno. I was so focused on Iris. Cisco and Ronnie were bringing him up to the medical bay when I was coming here."

"What are we going to do with him?"

"I have no idea. It depends on who he is when he wakes up."

—

Harrison Wells opened his own eyes for the first time in fifteen years. For the first time in fifteen years he was alone in his own head. He was alive.

He wished he wasn't.

He looked around slowly, he was in the medical bay of S.T.A.R labs. He tried to push himself up into a seated position, but found he couldn't move his arms. Glancing down he saw he was in restraints. He didn't bother trying to move his feet. Eobard never bothered to fix the spinal cord injury that had restricted him to a wheelchair, it was easier to maintain the facade when there was actual damage and the speedster had been able to use his speed force to generate a small electrical field inside himself that would bypass the area of injury and allow him to move normally. After his discovery Eobard could have healed himself, but he was so annoyed with Harrison and he'd gotten so used to generating the field that he decided not to out of spite. Without the speed force Harrison's legs were useless.

He had screamed inside the mental cage that trapped him for 15 years, hoping someone would kill the man who wore his face, would free him from all of this. Oh god, he'd been forced to watch so many people die at his hand. And Tess… beautiful Tess was dead and he'd been unable to do anything to help her. Tears streamed freely down his face.

Harrison Wells closed his own eyes for the first time in fifteen years.

—

Everyone was gathered in the main room except for Joe who had stayed home to take care of Iris.

"How is this possible?" Barry asked "If we found Harrison Wells's corpse how is he here now?"

"I have a theory. When Eddie took his own life to prevent Eobard from ever being born a massive paradox was created, without Eobard many things would not have happened including the death of your mother Barry. This should have caused the singularity to happen despite the fact that Caitlin and Ronnie were able to close the wormhole." Dr. Stein explained.

Barry frowned. "Then why didn't it?"

"In order to take Dr. Wells's identity Eobard stole everything that made up the essence of what Dr. Wells was, his appearance, his memories, his-"

"His soul?" Cisco offered.

"In a way yes. He stole all of it leaving behind the husk of a man that you found and was essentially wearing Dr. Wells as a mask. The first thing paradoxes try do is correct themselves, and because Eobard was so close to the wormhole when he started to cease to exist the energy from the paradox was able to latch onto the essence of Dr. Wells."

"Without the Reverse Flash the real Dr. Wells would still be alive. So the paradox was able to correct that using the essence of Dr. Wells to recreate him." Cisco jumped in.

"Exactly. Recreating Dr. Wells released enough energy, like a steam valve, that the singularity happened in much smaller more manageable events. We still don't know what the repercussions of those will be, but at least the earth is in one piece."

"So what will that mean for him?" Barry nodded back at the medical bay.

"Well if I'm correct in all of this, that is for all intents and purposes Dr. Harrison Wells. The real one."

"Do you think he's dangerous?"

Dr. Stein shook his head. "Harrison Wells would have been a passenger in his own body for the past 15 years. I do not know if Eobard was aware of him, but he would've been most certainly aware of Eobard, and everything that man did. I do not believe that he is dangerous, but I believe that no one can come out of that sort of experience without a fair bit of psychological trauma."

"I did a through physical while he was unconscious." Caitlin handed Barry a file. "He looks exactly the same. But there is no trace of the speed force in him and… his spinal injury is still there."

"What?"

"He's still paralyzed."

Cisco nodded. "It makes sense. If Reverse Flash healed himself and anyone did a physical afterwards his cover would've been blown."

Barry frowned. "Well then why didn't he heal himself after we found out who he was? And how was he able to walk? Reverse Flash was after than me."

"Electricity." A voice called out from the med bay. Everyone jumped in surprise. "You speedsters have a lot of it."

Barry quickly moved into the other room, followed by the others. "Dr. Wells?"

"Barry Allen." The restrained man replied evenly, his face impassive. "Everything that happens in our bodies are just chemical reactions and electrical currents. SCIs interrupt those currents but if you have sufficient voltage that's easily bypassed. As for the healing thing, well Dr. Stein he was very aware of me and found me to be quite annoying, so when he had the opportunity to heal everything he decided not to."

"Should we trust you?" Cisco asked.

Harrison laughed bitterly. "Why would you? I killed you. I tried to kill all of you."

"But it wasn't you." Ronnie pointed out. He glanced at Dr. Stein remembering his own experience of being out of control of his body. "You didn't have a choice."

"I still felt and saw all of it. I still-" He broke off with a sob, tears once again flowing freely down his face.

Wordlessly Caitlin started to undo the restraints on his arms.

"What are you doing?" Barry demanded.

"I'm going to take him home. He doesn't need to stay here."

"Shouldn't we lock him up until we're positive he's not evil?" Cisco asked.

Ronnie went to move Wells's wheelchair closer to the bed. "I think he's been locked up enough, don't you?" He and Caitlin shard eye contact. She nodded, grateful to have her husband's support.

Barry hung back doubtful, but he didn't make a move to stop them.

He sure hoped that this wouldn't come back to bite them.


	2. Chapter 2

Barry hesitantly knocked on the door of Dr. Wells's mansion and a few moments later Caitlin opened the door.

She hesitated "Barry."

"How is he doing?"

"About as well as could be expected. Considering."

Barry nodded. "We discussed it, and we have to agree that you and Ronnie were right. I don't fully trust him yet but this Harrison Wells, well he's as much of a victim as we were. So we're going to take shifts to help him out and keep an eye on him."

Caitlin frowned slightly. "To make sure he isn't actually evil?"

"To make sure he's coping."

Caitlin nodded and let Barry come inside. "I don't think he's coping."

"It's only been two hours. What happened?" Barry asked in disbelief.

Caitlin led him inside toward the master bedroom. "He's been taking a bath. Since we've brought him home. Ronnie tried to encourage him to get out but…"

"I'll go talk to him."

"Thanks." Caitlin said, relieved.

Barry walked into the master bedroom and froze at the sight before him. "What are you doing?"

Harrison glanced up at Barry and gave him a half smile. "Taking a bubble bath."

Barry frowned. It was surreal to see Harrison like this. He didn't seem to care at all that someone else was watching him bathe. "Why?"

"Because I can." Harrison said. "When I would get depressed I used to take a bath. So…" He waved around to encompass the area.

Barry sat down on the closed toilet. "And you're depressed right now?"

"The last thing I saw in my own body was my wife dying. And then I was forced to be an unwilling passenger for fifteen years while the monster who killed my wife, who in essence killed me, used my face and my memories to do horrible things. Now I'm free, with legs that don't work and people who quite reasonably hate the sight of me. And I'm going to get to live with the guilt of what I've been forced to partake in for the rest of my life." Harrison looked up. "So yeah. Bath time."

"Fair enough." Barry stared at the broken man in front of him. There was so much he wanted to say but he just couldn't find the words. Luckily he was saved when his phone rang. "Hello?"

"Barry, I need you to come down to the nuclear power plant." Joe explained.

"On my way." With one last look at Harrison, Barry sped off.

—

Barry arrived at the mansion the next afternoon with Cisco to relieve Dr. Stein from his Harrison watching shift. Dr. Stein had seemed quite perturbed, but didn't say much beyond "We all process grief in our own way."

While Cisco set up some of his equipment in the living room so he could keep working on some assignments from Joe for the metahuman taskforce, Barry checked the bathroom and was more than a little disturbed to see Harrison still in the bath, surrounded by beer cans. "It's been nine hours since you got in the tub. Are you ok?"

"I'll feel a lot better if you gave that little H knob over there a little twist. Body temp is a bit low."

Barry sat down on the toilet frowning with concern."Are you going to get out of the tub any time today?"

"Today isn't looking so good. Pass me the" Harrison pointed at the plunger that was lying near the far wall on its side.

"Plunger?" Barry handed it to him.

"Yeah rolled out of reach an hour ago." Harrison used the end of it to lift the lid of the toilet revealing at least a six pack of budwiser on ice in the bowl.

"What the-?" Barry exclaimed/

"Had some beer delivered this morning." Harrison explained. "Stein would't do a beer run."

"You can have beer delivered?"

"Yeah, this modern age we live in." Harrison chuckled "the delivery boy, Sammy? I think it was Sammy. He set this up for me. Apparently his uncle Dan did something similar when he felt down. Gave the kid a good tip." Using the plunger Harrison was able to grab a beer from the toilet. "Success."

Barry knew he should probably do something, but any idea of what that something could be was derailed when his phone began buzzing. It was a text from Joe about the Rosthein case. "Ok. I'm going to go back to the labs."

"Call me if you need anything." Harrison called out as Barry left, "And by anything I mean anything from this general area."

—

Harrison watched Cisco apply another piece of duck tape to the tape holding his head against the wall. "What is this?"

"You're basic homemade anti drowning device. To be worn until Barry comes back."

Harrison took a sip of his beer, happy to find that his ability to do so was unrestricted. "I like it."

"Oh boy." Cisco breathed out, shaking his head when Harrison offered one of his bath beers. "Trying to cut back."

Yeah, Cisco thought, this was going to be a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

Barry realized this was the first time that he'd had a chance to really slow down since they'd discovered that Eobard Thawne had revealed himself. And all at once everything started to hit him, he'd let his mother die, Eddie had killed himself to save them all, a metahuman who looked like the man they'd found dead in at the power plant was now out to kill him for some unknown reason, and he'd lost a man who he had looked up to for his entire life. Everything all of the sudden felt like it was too much.

"Want a beer?" Harrison offered, interrupting Barry's thoughts as he sat on the floor by the tub.

Barry shrugged "Sure."

Harrison pulled one out of the tub and took a sip."Eugh, Bath water." He threw it back and grabbed another, "backwash." He grabbed another, and finally nodded his approval,"hmmm."

Barry took the proffered beer with a little bit of disgust "Oh thank you." He quickly deposited it in the trash. "Dr. Wells? Was any of it real?"

"Any of what real?"

"Us, the team. Did you ever actually like us?"

Harrison paused thinking. "I remember feeling very fond of all of you, I still do. I knew you were good, and I certainly felt pride in what you were able to achieve. But if those feelings came from me, or Eobard, or something else, I don't know. I can't tell you what of me is real anymore." He fished out another beer and started drinking. Barry nodded sadly and left him to it.

—

Detective West watched the man that the boy he considered his son had idolized for years wear a bubble beard while playing with a small rubber duck. He wondered where the duck had come from because he found it hard to believe that Eobard Thane would've owned such a thing.

Joe didn't want to have this conversation, but he knew he had to. Ever since the Atom Smasher and Jay Garrick appeared Barry had been faltering, and Joe knew it had to do with guilt over Eddie and feelings of betrayal from Eobard. Unfortunately if Jay was right and this Zoom guy was out to destroy Barry then Joe was going to need all the help he could get to keep Barry safe and whole.

"Where's Barry?"

"BARRY!" Harrison shouted, waiting for any response. Not receiving on he shrugged."He's not here."

Joe sat down on the toilet heavily, "Look Harrison."

Harrison shook his head. "It's Captain Bubblebeard, avast matey, shut your scupper and bury your steel-" Joe forced the other man's head underwater, effectively removing his beard.

"Now you're Harrison again." Harrison sputtered indignantly. "I know you're hurting. I understand why you're hurting. But a lot is going down now, and honestly we really need your help."

"You need my help?" Harrison asked disbelievingly.

"I always thought you were an emotionally crippled narcissist before it turned out you weren't really you." Joe replied "and right now I think you're an emotionally crippled narcissist who's soaking in a tub of what by now has to be mostly your own urine."

Harrison considered the water around him for a second. "I believe the ratio shifted that way yes."

"But Barry believed in you before. And I have to believe that somewhere deep inside you that that matters. That that maters enough to you that you want to be better than … this." Joe gestured at the tub, "and be part of something great again."

Harrison nodded and hauled himself up so he was sitting on the side of the tub, startling Joe."You're right. The kid needs us and he needs us now."

"Towel." Joe growled as he tossed a black towel at Harrison so he could cover himself.

"Thanks." Harrison started to lean forward to transfer to his chair but lost his balance and ended up sprawled on the floor. "I may have lost some muscle mass."

"Fantastic." Joe muttered.


End file.
